An Eventful Last Week

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In the blink of an eye, 10 weeks have come and gone. It is crazy to think that just 10 short weeks ago, I was preparing for my first day of work out here with no idea what to expect. And 10 weeks later, I am sad to leave this place because I have grown so close to Michael and Morganne over the summer. This week was busy as always. I started the week off at the West Ranch. I headed over in the morning with Michael, my host, and Morganne, to put cement into the water tank that got fixed. Later that day, I was tasked with fixing a fence that was broken in not one or two spots, but four different spots. This stretch of fence was only about 100 feet long, so it being broken in four different spots was not an easy task to fix. I had to go wire by wire, patching one spot at a time, then finally stretching and pulling the wire tight at the last spot.

These four wires on this 100-foot-long stretch took me about four hours to complete. The day still wasn’t over, even though it was 8 o’clock. I was told to check the fence surrounding the pasture we were going to move the steers into tomorrow morning … so I started on my way to check the fence. There were multiple wires broken loose that I needed to fix. Once I was just coming to the end, I ran over a t-post. This popped a huge hole in the tire, leaving me with no choice but to hurry back to the house. Finally, after all the mishaps of the day, I called it a day at 9 pm with an hour drive back to the Main Ranch.

Tuesday morning started at 6 am as we headed over the West Ranch to move the steers. First, we had to drain the water from letting the cement settle overnight, then we filled the water tank back up and made sure nothing was leaking or out of place. Once the water tank was full, we headed out to get the steers. The little steers and the big steers had mixed themselves by crawling through the fences. We had to bring in both groups to sort them out. Once this was finished, we could put the big steers in their new pasture and return the little steers to their pasture.

On Wednesday, we started the task of bringing in the bulls from the summer pasture. At the beginning of the summer, Michael and I put out 12 bulls with another one coming from the West Ranch in July. We only brought in 10 bulls from the pasture, plus the one from the West Ranch. They lost two bulls this summer, one from lightning, possibly, and the other from an ear infection, possibly. Wednesday was an all-day effort to get the bulls in. Michael and Morganne were on the horses while I was on the four-wheeler. We got 7 of the bulls on Wednesday.

Thursday, we headed out to get the other 3 bulls in. Michael and Morganne were back on the horses, and I was on the four-wheeler. I found the bulls in the lady in a shoe pasture, and I chased them up to where the O.K. Corral was set up. Michael and Morganne helped push them in once they were closer. We almost had them in when a cow decided she wanted to be difficult and take off in the other direction. This, in turn, made the whole group take off. I raced on the four-wheeler to stop them and turn them back around. As I was doing this, Michael got thrown off his horse. He landed hard on his hand. I went over to him as Morganne went after the horse. His hand looked broken. I took him back to the house, where my host took him to the ER. It was supposed to storm pretty good the rest of the afternoon, but Morganne and I went out to fix the fence we were told to fix. As we were fixing the fence, the storm let loose on us.

Friday, we headed back over to the West Ranch to finish up our projects over there. We had to finish laying some cement out for the load-out chute. We also cemented another water tank for the spray heifers way in the back. Morganne and I did most of the work, as Michael only had one hand and was in a lot of pain. Saturday, we took the task of getting the rest of the bulls back in. We finally were able to get number 41 and two sacks into the O.K. Corral. We also ran up number 21, who has been hiding for about three weeks. After getting all the bulls in and situated, Michael and Morganne went to the West Ranch while I stayed back to trench a path for water by the big pivot engine and fix some fence. Morganne and I didn’t finish when it rained. After that, I was told to check on the old moms and pick some weeds. I also washed the four-wheeler to finish out the week.

This was a great experience. I will be staying an extra week as Morganne is finishing out her internship this week, and they need more help as Michael is hurt. This has been a great experience overall. I learned a lot about what I will and will not do in my operation, as well as how to treat the people working with/for me. I learned to always keep my head high and stick to my morals as it is a tough industry with many ways of how people approach it. I will stand true to who I am and always think of everyone else before I speak and act. I’m glad I had this opportunity to grow and learn.

Submitted by: Tamryn Klein
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team